A Bronx special-education teacher raped a 10-year-old student in a school parking lot — after convincing her parents he was escorting her to a fictitious event where she was to receive an award, cops said yesterday.

Anthony Criscuolo, who worked at PS 386 in Fordham Heights, was arrested yesterday and charged with first-degree rape and predatory sexual assault against a child.

Police sources said he wrote to the fifth-grader’s parents on an official school letterhead to ask permission to take the girl to an awards ceremony, where he said she was to be honored.

The parents fell for the alleged ruse and gave Criscuolo, 40, the OK to be the girl’s chaperone, sources told The Post.

Instead, he drove the child to a school parking lot on Ward Avenue in The Bronx on Monday, and allegedly raped her in his car.

The Bronx Special Victims Squad opened an investigation after the victim’s mother found sexually detailed e-mails between her daughter and the teacher, cops said.

Education officials said Criscuolo, who has no disciplinary record since he began teaching as a substitute in The Bronx in 2002, has been reassigned out of the classroom.

“We plan to seek his termination,” said Department of Education spokeswoman Connie Pankratz.

A number of current and former students told The Post they have witnessed odd behavior between the teacher and a 10-year-old girl — it’s unclear if it’s the victim — particularly at a recent Valentine’s Day party.

“He used to always have a favorite student who was a girl. He got her a ring and everything — a real ring, a diamond ring,” said one former student who attended the party.

“They were acting like they were married.”

Another former student at the party added, “He was the husband and she was the wife.”